According to Justin Taylor, "Only one book gives us undiluted truth — the whole truth and nothing but the truth." He's referring, of course, to the Bible, and I couldn't agree with him more. However, I also whole-heartedly agree with something else Taylor says: "if we use only this book, we may in fact be in disobedience to it" (emphasis mine). Why? Because, he argues, a "me and my Bible" attitude may mask a prideful presumption that we do not need the help of others in order to understand what the Bible means. Check out Taylor's full article, "A Teachable Spirit" in the June edition of Tabletalk for some healthy food for thought.
HT: Crossway Blog
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Influencers
We all look at ourselves, others, the world, God, Scripture, etc. from a perspective that has been shaped by various factors throughout our lives. The way we view everything is affected by this lens through which we’re always looking—and from which we can never escape. Fortunately, that lens can and should be adjusted (and focused and corrected) as we renew our minds according to God’s Word. Sometimes even the way that we read the Bible and think about the Christian life needs to be challenged. In the course of my journey, God has used three men in particular to challenge my perspective and to strengthen my desire to be used by God in His mission for His glory:
John Piper – God used this man to give me a hunger for the supremacy of Christ and to teach me that a pursuit of God’s glory is simultaneously a pursuit of all satisfying joy! (Desiring God)
C.J. Mahaney – God drastically changed my life through C.J’s book The Cross-Centered Life. Here I learned that the cross is not merely something to be believed on for salvation, but the cross stands at the center of my daily battle against sin and my fight for joy in God.
Greg Beale – God used Dr. Beale to help me learn how to read the Bible as a majestic, inspired story about the Sovereign God who is on a mission to redeem the world for His glory and the eternal joy of His people. (See The Temple and the Church's Mission)
None of these men would want any attention drawn to themselves, but God has given each of them gifts that He has used to awaken my love for Christ and for His Glory, and for this, I am thankful.
To God be the glory!
John Piper – God used this man to give me a hunger for the supremacy of Christ and to teach me that a pursuit of God’s glory is simultaneously a pursuit of all satisfying joy! (Desiring God)
C.J. Mahaney – God drastically changed my life through C.J’s book The Cross-Centered Life. Here I learned that the cross is not merely something to be believed on for salvation, but the cross stands at the center of my daily battle against sin and my fight for joy in God.
Greg Beale – God used Dr. Beale to help me learn how to read the Bible as a majestic, inspired story about the Sovereign God who is on a mission to redeem the world for His glory and the eternal joy of His people. (See The Temple and the Church's Mission)
None of these men would want any attention drawn to themselves, but God has given each of them gifts that He has used to awaken my love for Christ and for His Glory, and for this, I am thankful.
To God be the glory!
Saturday, July 25, 2009
What is "Reformed" Theology?
I recently had a discussion with a friend who had virtually no idea what I meant when I said that I would consider myself essentially "Reformed." What was even more surprising was realizing that it was hard for me to concisely define it. Part of the reason is that there are some different opinions about how it should be defined, which means that it's probably better to think about it in terms of general trends rather than advocating a tight technical definition.
So here's my best shot at broad-brushing the basics of Reformed theology: By in large, Reformed theology seems to be marked with a heavy emphasis on the centrality of God and His agenda to be glorified. It has a very high view of Scripture, stresses the sovereignty of God, has an awareness of and a healthy respect for church history (e.g. Church fathers, creeds) - especially its own tradition (e.g. the "solas" of the Protestant reformation, the Puritans, etc.), and overall, has developed a relatively established theological system nearly synonymous with Calvinism (but not quite). A helpful and more elaborated attempt at a definition (it's still relatively brief) can be found at this blog post by Tim Challies. Take note of the helpful bibliography at the end, which is well worth perusing if you want to learn more.
So here's my best shot at broad-brushing the basics of Reformed theology: By in large, Reformed theology seems to be marked with a heavy emphasis on the centrality of God and His agenda to be glorified. It has a very high view of Scripture, stresses the sovereignty of God, has an awareness of and a healthy respect for church history (e.g. Church fathers, creeds) - especially its own tradition (e.g. the "solas" of the Protestant reformation, the Puritans, etc.), and overall, has developed a relatively established theological system nearly synonymous with Calvinism (but not quite). A helpful and more elaborated attempt at a definition (it's still relatively brief) can be found at this blog post by Tim Challies. Take note of the helpful bibliography at the end, which is well worth perusing if you want to learn more.
Friday, July 24, 2009
Dig Deeper
My friend Nick Nowalk passed on a great reminder from Jonathan Edwards, who warns us not to discourage those who suspect that there's always more light to be seen. Apparently some believed that it was arrogant for the New England Puritans to be thinking so hard about Christian spirituality. Thankfully they didn't fall for it (cf. Ps 1:2; Col 1:9-10).
“They…who bring any addition of light to this great subject, The nature of true religion, and its distinction from all counterfeits, should be accepted as doing the greatest possible service to the Church of God. And attempts to this end ought not to be despised and discouraged, under a notion that it is but vanity and arrogance in such as are lately sprung up in an obscure part of the world, to pretend to add anything on this subject, to the informations we have long since received from their fathers, who have lived in former times, in New England, and more noted countries. We cannot suppose that the Church of God is already possessed of all that light, in things of this nature, that ever God intends to give it; nor that all Satan’s lurking-places have already been found out.” (Jonathan Edwards, in the preface to Joseph Bellamy’s True Religion Delineated; cited in Conrad Cherry, The Theology of Jonathan Edwards: A Reappraisal, p. 4).
“They…who bring any addition of light to this great subject, The nature of true religion, and its distinction from all counterfeits, should be accepted as doing the greatest possible service to the Church of God. And attempts to this end ought not to be despised and discouraged, under a notion that it is but vanity and arrogance in such as are lately sprung up in an obscure part of the world, to pretend to add anything on this subject, to the informations we have long since received from their fathers, who have lived in former times, in New England, and more noted countries. We cannot suppose that the Church of God is already possessed of all that light, in things of this nature, that ever God intends to give it; nor that all Satan’s lurking-places have already been found out.” (Jonathan Edwards, in the preface to Joseph Bellamy’s True Religion Delineated; cited in Conrad Cherry, The Theology of Jonathan Edwards: A Reappraisal, p. 4).
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Happy-Go-Lucky
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Why Denver?
There are lots of reasons that Denver has emerged as the target zone of our church planting effort. Not only is Colorado the most probable location of Eden, but Denver is one of the fastest growing cities in the U.S., is presently the 24th largest city in the United States, and it is the largest (and arguably the most influential) city within a 600 mile radius .
In light of Denver's regional influence, we have targeted it as highly strategic location for establishing a launching pad for future church plants, and thus gospel proclamation in the broader Colorado area and beyond. Tim Keller explains why cities like Denver are strategic in the church planting effort:
"Wayne Meeks of Yale, in The First Urban Christians points out that Paul's missionary work was urban-centered. He went to population centers, and ignored small towns and the countryside. Christianity spread better in the urban Roman Empire than in the countryside. Why? 1) People in the city are less conservative, more open to new ideas. 2) Christian evangelists found that, in the city the gospel could spread faster into the influence centers -- law, politics, arts, etc., and into diverse national groups. By the year 300 A.D., over half of the urban populations of the Empire were Christian while the countryside was pagan ... The early church was urban. There is no intrinsic reason for urban people to be less religious, only less traditional" (Tim Keller and J. Allen Thompson, Church Planter Manual [2002], 46).
While I don't think that Jesus or Paul intended to "Christianize" the Roman culture of their day (recall that Jesus' kingdom is not of this world - John 18:36), the city was nevertheless a strategic place to communicate and demonstrate the gospel to society at large. It was a calculated decision to establish beachhead churches in the places that would make the largest news-spreading impact. Paul's motive was not ultimately cultural transformation (i.e. a Christian reformation of law, politics, and arts), but gospel proclamation for the sake of advancing faith-filled obedience to Jesus (Rom 1:5). This model inspires our vision to see a Bible-saturated spring of good news flowing from Denver throughout the region.
In light of Denver's regional influence, we have targeted it as highly strategic location for establishing a launching pad for future church plants, and thus gospel proclamation in the broader Colorado area and beyond. Tim Keller explains why cities like Denver are strategic in the church planting effort:
"Wayne Meeks of Yale, in The First Urban Christians points out that Paul's missionary work was urban-centered. He went to population centers, and ignored small towns and the countryside. Christianity spread better in the urban Roman Empire than in the countryside. Why? 1) People in the city are less conservative, more open to new ideas. 2) Christian evangelists found that, in the city the gospel could spread faster into the influence centers -- law, politics, arts, etc., and into diverse national groups. By the year 300 A.D., over half of the urban populations of the Empire were Christian while the countryside was pagan ... The early church was urban. There is no intrinsic reason for urban people to be less religious, only less traditional" (Tim Keller and J. Allen Thompson, Church Planter Manual [2002], 46).
While I don't think that Jesus or Paul intended to "Christianize" the Roman culture of their day (recall that Jesus' kingdom is not of this world - John 18:36), the city was nevertheless a strategic place to communicate and demonstrate the gospel to society at large. It was a calculated decision to establish beachhead churches in the places that would make the largest news-spreading impact. Paul's motive was not ultimately cultural transformation (i.e. a Christian reformation of law, politics, and arts), but gospel proclamation for the sake of advancing faith-filled obedience to Jesus (Rom 1:5). This model inspires our vision to see a Bible-saturated spring of good news flowing from Denver throughout the region.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Friday, July 17, 2009
The McQuinn Story (in Brief)
Hola amigos y familia and friends-to-be! My name is Gary and my wife’s name is Jamie, and our baby’s name will remain anonymous… mostly because we haven’t named him yet… mostly because he isn’t born yet… he’s due Nov 9 (which isn’t approaching as fast as Jamie would like!).
Like Jeremey said in his post, we’ve moved out to Fort Collins, CO with the Houltons to prepare to plant a church in Denver sometime next year. I guess I should give a quick summary of our story. Jamie and I grew up in the same church (Countryside) in Olathe, KS. We both graduated from what is now known as Northland International University. It was early in my time at Northland when God put a passion in my heart to plant a church out West (for us Denver is west), and that passion has been growing ever since. Jamie and I got hitched in June of 2006 and then moved to Virginia Beach where I went to a seminary for a year before moving to Wheaton, IL where I got a degree in Biblical Exegesis. That’s where our story dovetails with the Houltons’. God has united our families around a vision to spread a passion for His glory (in Denver and beyond) through the proclamation of His excellencies in Christ. Please join us in praying that God would magnify Himself in Denver through our lives and His Gospel.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Where The Mission Meets the World
God is on a mission to captivate your soul with the splendor of Jesus. His glory is what fuels the Church’s resolve to make him known among the nations, and it’s the heartbeat of our vision at Planter’s Post. In everything we do, our ultimate aim is to stir up a deeply satisfied trust in the one true God through the proclamation of his excellencies in Jesus Christ.
To that end, Planter’s Post is a blog designed to offer reflections and updates from two church planters in the making who want to view the world through the lens of God’s mission. We have no intention of limiting our topics to ministry or theology (fear not, you can expect a healthy dose of these) because we also want to explore the everyday encounters that both Christians and unbelievers face in our society. Planter’s Post is a place where we can think about Jesus, and politics, and culture, and sexuality, and suffering, and entertainment, and…well, anything we want to. It’s a place to process life in this world from the perspective of the age to come. It's a place to keep you informed of where we are on the journey of faith and church planting. It’s where God’s mission meets the world we live in. That’s Planter’s Post.
To that end, Planter’s Post is a blog designed to offer reflections and updates from two church planters in the making who want to view the world through the lens of God’s mission. We have no intention of limiting our topics to ministry or theology (fear not, you can expect a healthy dose of these) because we also want to explore the everyday encounters that both Christians and unbelievers face in our society. Planter’s Post is a place where we can think about Jesus, and politics, and culture, and sexuality, and suffering, and entertainment, and…well, anything we want to. It’s a place to process life in this world from the perspective of the age to come. It's a place to keep you informed of where we are on the journey of faith and church planting. It’s where God’s mission meets the world we live in. That’s Planter’s Post.
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